In a lengthy missive on Facebook, the Governor of Alaska noted that the speech on Tuesday was dubbed Winning the Future and suggested that the acronym of that title - WTF - is an apt way to sum up the speech.

WTF is a popular online internet acronym for the rhetorical question "What the f***?"

She also referenced the acronym during an appearance on Fox News, telling Greta Van Susteren that Mr Obama's speech had "a lot of 'WTF' moments".

Mrs Palin focused her attention in her Facebook post on Mr Obama's economic proposals, calling his ideas for investments in areas like high-speed rail "half-baked".

She also said Mr Obama does not understand that debt is the biggest problem facing the nation, but not mention the call for unity that Mr Obama made in his speech.